NEW YORK — Phil Hughes stepped into the Yankees’ clubhouse, stood up in front of his locker and motioned reporters to join him, beckoning the media to bring it on, which hardly could have been harder than his confrontations with opposing hitters this season.
His time facing the opposition as a starting pitcher came to an end Tuesday night when Yankees manager Joe Girardi announced in his postgame press conference that Hughes, struggling through a 4-13 season, was out of the rotation and would be replaced by David Huff on Saturday in Boston.
"I wouldn’t say I’m blindsided by it," Hughes said. "Disappointed, surprised, but it certainly wasn’t something where I was pitching well this year."
Hughes had little to argue, explaining that he didn’t plead his case when the news came down. With 26 starts already this season he’d been given plenty of opportunities to turn it around and nothing worked.
"It’s always disappointing," he said. "I was looking forward to having a good September in the rotation, but obviously that’s not in the plans. So I just turn my attention to doing the best job out of the bullpen I possibly can in whatever role that is. That’s it, that’s all I can do.
"They think hard about these decisions. [The news is] more of a formality. So that’s it. That’s all I can do. … Huff’s been throwing the ball extremely well. I haven’t all year. So you can obviously see why they made that decision. It’s disappointing. It’s always the emotion going into it, but at this point, right in the middle of a playoff race here, it’s obviously a decision they wanted to make."
The Yankees hardly can afford to let Hughes work his problems out on the mound every five days, struggling to chase down the final wild-card berth in the American League playoffs. And Hughes is well aware that the move to the bullpen, despite his prior success in that role, might not be any better. With the Yankees well-armed on the back end of the bullpen he is left for mop-up duty — the role that Huff parlayed from picking up Hughes to a starting spot.
"The bullpen’s been great this year," Hughes said. "I feel like the back end of our bullpen’s pretty set up. I’m not hoping any of our starters has a short start, so if the formula goes to plan I don’t really see myself in that mix. That means we’re winning ball games. That’s the most important part."
BRIEFS: Ivan Nova was named AL Pitcher of the Month for August. Nova was 4-0 with a 2.08 ERA, one complete-game shutout, 12 walks and 31 strikeouts in 43 1/3 innings over six starts. … Nova will get the start tonight to kick off the series against Boston. Andy Pettitte, Huff and Hiroki Kuroda will get the remaining starts.
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